Sunshine & Scallops

I could definitely feel the effects from the four beers I drank at Barley’s, but by 7:00am I felt plenty good enough to get out of bed and begin my day. After starting coffee and completing exercises I leashed up Ykraps. I was surprised to find the skies predominantly blue. I was sure that it was supposed to rain. It was cooler than it’s been, only 48 degrees. Still, given the choice, I’d take it over rain. Back at home I checked the revised forecast and radar. The rain that was supposed to ruin our weekend was now said to be sinking south leaving us with only a slight chance of rain. In addition, the high temperature was now expected to reach the low 60s. Cool! Even though the lawn was still ridiculously wet, I added cutting it to the day’s agenda. Suddenly I found myself scurrying to organize my day around yard work, and there was plenty of it to do. I sipped coffee and wrote in my blog until 8:40am. Next, I delivered Mindy’s coffee and dressed for my run. I shared the positive change to our weather. At least for the time being, she stayed in bed. I ran my four miles in 35 minutes and felt terrific. It was a lovely morning for a run. Many folks were already out cutting their lawns after a week of on & off rain showers. I still had standing water at the edges of my deep cut flower beds. If I cut mine, I knew I’d have to use the push mower for almost all of it. Mindy was up and at her laptop when I got back. I shared my yard work goals for the day. She emphasized how important it was for both of us to attend Jacob’s soccer game at 12:45pm. As behind as I felt I was on lawn chores, I knew she was right. I’d plan my chores around the game. Mindy shared plans of attending a jewelry party after soccer. I headed out to start on the lawn at 10am. I whacked and edged the thick, wet grass. As you might imagine, I was covered with bits of wet earth and grass. I started cutting the front with the pushmower. It stalled a time or two due to the tall, thick, wet grass. It just couldn’t mulch it fast enough. Finally, I wisened up and raised the blade near its max. That solved the trouble. When I got to the large restoration area from last fall I lowered the blade even lower than before hoping to cut out all the chickweed still thriving. That worked pretty well. I cut the entire front and upper half of the back with the Toro. Because I spent 20 minutes chatting with neighbor David, it was already time to head in for a shower and then Jacob’s soccer game. Meanwhile, the weather only got nicer. It was already in the 60s and still sunny. We arrived at Jacob’s soccer game about 10 minutes late. His team was up 3-0, and he scored one of those goals. The opposing team rebounded quickly, however. They had a little hot shot that scored seemingly every time he got possession of the ball. After two periods it was 4-3, us. Lucky for us, they took the hot shot kid out to enable others to play (Hilliard soccer assoc. rules). We scored a couple more goals to pad our lead. Jacob’s team hung on and won 6-4. While there, we ran into Dick Fagan, our old neighbor. He shared how much he and his wife are digging their transition to a condo. No more yard work! Truth is, they didn’t care much for all the little ones running around on our little block all of the sudden. I understand their position. It was a bit strange to bid the kids farewell after the soccer game as they left with Jimaken. It also felt great! J Mindy and I headed directly across the street to Darby Creek Nursery. There we checked out the quality/condition of their sod. Neither of us was too impressed. Looked like they let it dry out a time or two. Plus, they have it lying directly on pavement, which sucks the water right out. We looked at flowering shrubs too. We have a few spots to consider. Mindy found a climbing Hydrangea that she liked. I promised to research it more thoroughly on line. The only other option we both liked was Rose of Sharon. We arrived home around 2:30pm. Mindy phoned the jewelry party host to check on the party’s status. Still going on. While she prepared to leave, I warmed some leftover Barley’s. I was really hungry! I ate two wings and two sauerkraut balls. Before she left for the party, Mindy and I made plans to have dinner at the Big Fat Greek. I headed back to the yard work. Before cutting the far back, I decided to move some dirt. If things worked out, I wanted to be laying sod on Sunday. I pulled the tarp off the dirt pile. It was dry save for the bottom and edges. Cool. I shoveled load after load into the wheel barrow and dumped it on the grade change area, strategically filling several low spots. After a short break, I cut the rest of the back yard. It was already late afternoon. After cutting, I tamped the newest dirt added to the grade change. That’ll suck it out of you in a hurry. Next, I shovel edged the last two areas remaining (a red maple & the large bed by the shed). In addition, I used my spud bar to pry two large rocks that have exposed themselves in the lawn over time. That was a long time coming. Dad stopped by just as I was finishing up the edging. I hoped he’d stop by to give my grade project a critique, tell me where I need to add dirt. I still had about 1.5 yards. He shared his ideas. By then I was running out of gas. Mindy got back from the party while dad was over. I asked her to pour me big glass of orange soda. That sounded so good. Dad shared his preparations for Florida travel during the coming week. Brother Bob’s going to watch the house and keep after Archie. Before he departed he fetched the boards he cut to specifications for my boat. Cool! We invited him to dinner with us but he declined citing a full belly from an earlier trip to Burger King. Dad wasn’t gone five minutes when Pat Schultz stopped over to chat. He was eager to see what the heck I was doing with all that dirt. Neighbors must think I’m crazy. We asked if he and Lisa might want to join us for dinner at Big Fat. He wasn’t sure, but would check with Lisa. Funny thing, we asked Crissy too. It’s not that we were desperate for company. Instead, just being neighborly. I went in for my second shower of the day. After a shower, we walked Ykraps. We called Pat to see if he & Lisa would be joining us. Nope! Lisa wasn’t feeling well. We left for The Big Fat Greek around 7:30pm. I called Bob Imber, who left me a voice mail earlier about Sunday golf. As much as I love to golf, the pull of my yard work won out. Weekends at the end of April and all of May are just too valuable for yard work. We purposefully drove right past the Big Fat heading a little further north to Strader’s on Riverside Dr. I wanted to see if they still had some sod, and if so, check-out the quality/quantity. They had more than Darby Creek and it was in excellent health. About as lush & dark green as possible. I noticed that they lay theirs out on visqueen, which helps keep the water against the sod. The price is the same - $3.99 per square yard. We walked around the nursery looking at all the colorful flora. This weekend pretty much marks the beginning of the spring/summer planting barrage in Columbus, one week ahead of Mother’s Day. The place was crawling with customers. We left satisfied that we’d return early Sunday morning to buy up most of their sod. We arrived at the Big Fat just after 8pm. As always, they greeted and treated us almost like family. Katarina was our waitress. She’s so nice, just ask her! J She asked if I wanted a Jack Daniels and Coke. Yes, of course. Mindy ordered a glass of wine. They brought us a jazzed up pita bread & dip appetizer. It’s so yummy. I already knew what I wanted for dinner, scallops. They’re lightly crusted and broiled to perfection in a white wine butter sauce. Believe me, they’re to die for delicious! To complement the scallops, I ordered a small Greek salad. Mindy ordered the broiled salmon. It’s her favorite. I couldn’t eat all of my scallops. I got the last four or five in a to-go box. I picked up the check. It’s hard to beat the quality, let alone the value. We left happy. Parked directly next to us was a new red Honda Fit (Glenn’s new car). I photographed it. It was somewhere between 9-9:30pm when we arrived home. We knew that Crissy was home with just Jake. We called and then walked over for a visit. Mindy took a glass of wine. I took a HopSlam. I ended up drinking four of Kenny’s Labatt Blue’s. Mindy went home to pour herself another glass of wine somewhere during that time. We hung out with Crissy until 1:30am. That’s the latest we’ve stayed up as far back as I can remember.